Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Public Libraries

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many new public libraries have opened since 2010.

Sir John Whittingdale: This information is not collected by the department. However, Arts Council England collects data from local authorities and publishes a basic dataset of information on public libraries in England. The libraries basic dataset 2022 shows the number of static libraries in England (statutory and non-statutory) as at 1 April 2010, 1 July 2016, 31 December 2019, 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2022. It can be found here.This dataset indicates that there are around 150 static public libraries which were not part of statutory provision in 2010 but were at 31 December 2022.

Public Libraries

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish her Department's new public libraries strategy.

Sir John Whittingdale: HM Government is committed to supporting a sustainable future for public libraries in England, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is presently working on a new Government strategy for public libraries.To inform this work, the Libraries Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay appointed Baroness Sanderson of Welton last September to lead a review of public libraries and to make recommendations for the Government to consider for inclusion in its new public libraries strategy. Her report was developed through engagement with a diverse range of library services and other organisations with an interest in libraries, and involved nine roundtable meetings held across the country.Baroness Sanderson submitted her report in July, and the Department is currently considering her recommendations. We plan to publish her report alongside the Government’s response this autumn. Her recommendations will inform the drafting of the new Government strategy, which we intend to publish in 2024, following consultation with the libraries sector.

Archives: Buildings

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the presence of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in their archive buildings.

Sir John Whittingdale: On 1 May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) planks. Local authorities, like other building owners, are advised to follow available professional guidance.The National Archives, a non-ministerial department of HM Government, has been in contact with the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport team about this issue and has also conducted a write-round to the local Place of Deposit for Public Records network and the Chief Archivists in Local Government Group.HM Government will consider the approach to any RAAC in other public sector estates on a case-by-case basis.

Department for Education

Construction: Training

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money was (a) raised and (b) unspent by organisations eligible to pay the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board Levy in the (i) 2021-2022 and (ii) 2022-2023 academic year.

Robert Halfon: The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) operates on a financial year running from January to December. In 2021, the ECITB raised £28.7 million in levy against expenditure of £33.4 million, the deficit was drawn from ECITB’s reserves. In 2022, the ECITB raised £26.3 million in levy against expenditure of £30.2 million, the deficit also drew from ECITB’s reserves.The ECITB publishes its Annual Report and Accounts on GOV.UK, the Charity Commission website and its own website. The 2021 report is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1086395/ECITB_annual_report_and_accounts_2021.pdf. The 2022 report is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1165668/Engineering_Construction_Industry_Training_Board_trustees__report_and_accounts_2021_to_2022.pdf.To note the ECITB is not able to provide figures for the academic years in the time available. Published data based on ECITB Financial Years has been provided.

Construction: Training

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money was raised by organisations eligible to pay the Construction Industry Training Board levy in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 academic year; and how much of that money was not spent in each of those years.

Robert Halfon: The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) operates on a financial year running from April to March. In the 2021/22 financial year the CITB raised a total income of £148.5 million against expenditure of £175 million resulting in a deficit of £26.5 million (this was met from existing CITB reserves). For the 2022/23 financial year, the CITB raised £210.9 million against expenditure of £196.1 million resulting in a surplus of £14.8 million. The attached table contains a breakdown and the 2021/22 accounts, which are published here: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search?p_p_id=uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet&p_p_lifecycle=2&p_p_state=maximized&p_p_mode=view&p_p_resource_id=%2Faccounts-resource&p_p_cacheability=cacheLevelPage&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_objectiveId=A12786347&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_priv_r_p_mvcRenderCommandName=%2Faccounts-and-annual-returns&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_priv_r_p_organisationNumber=264289 (2022/23 accounts pending).To note:The expenditure relates to grants and funding claimed, not when the training was undertaken. Employers had 26 weeks to claim the funding.The expenditure relates to both levy and non-levy and is shown in total as not possible to split out in the timeframe given.Operational decisions around how income is spent are taken by the CITB. 2021/22 table  (xlsx, 21.3KB)

Children: North of England

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potentiual role of (a) further education colleges and (b) universities in tackling the level of inequality of educational outcomes for children in the North of England.

Robert Halfon: This government is focused on levelling up opportunity so that every young person, regardless of their background or geographic location, can get the skills and training needed to secure rewarding, well-paid jobs and move up the ladder of opportunity.To help improve people’s lives and boost the economy, the government’s skills mission sets out an ambition for 200,000 more people to complete high-quality training in England each year by 2030. This includes 80,000 more people completing courses in areas of England with the lowest skills levels.The department wants to make sure that it is raising skill levels in the places where they are lowest, so that more people have the skills they need to get good jobs. Skills are a crucial driver of economic disparities between people and places. Boosting skills improves human capital and is a clear way to improve the earnings potential and life chances of people who have already left school.This government has built a new skills system from the ground up, recognising that skills are crucial in driving long-term economic growth and is taking forward major reforms set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper: delivering T Levels, boosting apprenticeships, approving Higher Technical Qualifications, rolling out Skills Bootcamps, and introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement from 2025. The paper is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-for-jobs-lifelong-learning-for-opportunity-and-growth.The department would like to see more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds accessing apprenticeships which are so crucial in driving social mobility. This is why £1,000 has been provided to both employers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19- to 24-year-old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care Plan. Apprentices that are under the age of 25 that have been in local authority care can also claim a bursary of £3,000.In November 2021, the department issued guidance to the Office for Students, asking it to refocus the access and participation regime to create a system that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout their education.Prior attainment is a key determinant of successful participation in higher education. That is why the department has asked universities to take on a more direct role in driving up the standards in schools. The department wants universities to:Work more with schools and colleges to raise standards so that students have more options and can choose the path that is right for them.Move away from just getting disadvantaged students through the door, and instead tackle dropout rates and support students through university to graduation and into high skilled, high paid jobs.Offer more courses that are linked to skills and flexible learning such as degree apprenticeships, higher technical qualifications, and part time courses. The department is providing £30 million of funding to Uni Connect through the Strategic Priorities (SP) Grant for 2023/24. Uni Connect delivers targeted interventions and support aimed at increasing the number of young people from under represented areas going into further and higher education by bringing together universities, colleges and local partners.There are several Uni Connect partnerships throughout the North of England, including Inspiring Choices in York. So far, over one million young people from underrepresented groups have engaged with the Uni Connect programme.

Schools: Repairs and Maintenance

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school classrooms were closed due to maintenance and structural issues in the most recent 12-month period for which data are available.

Nick Gibb: Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day to day basis, to manage the maintenance of their schools. The Department does not therefore hold information on the number of buildings closed due to maintenance and structural issues.The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.

Schools: Sports

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has taken recent steps to determine the prevalence of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in school sport facilities; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of RAAC on (a) student access to sport facilities and (b) the Government's target of having equal access to sport for girls by 2025.

Nick Gibb: Nothing is more important than the safety of pupils and staff. It has always been the case that when made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department has taken immediate action.The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. The Department is working at pace to understand the prevalence of RAAC in our education estate, including in school sport facilities.The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era. The questionnaire remains open, and it is important that all responsible bodies submit and update their responses as more information becomes available.Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast-tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already confirmed they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.The School Sport and Activity Action Plan published in July 2023 set out how the Government funded School Games Mark will phase in equality criteria from September 2023 and become a mandatory part of the School Games Mark from September 2024.The Government has committed to publishing non-statutory guidance by the end of the calendar year to support schools to learn from other schools who are delivering equality of access in the context of their wider curriculum.In November 2021, the Department awarded the girls competitive sport contract to SLQ, worth up to £980,000 until 31 March 2024. The programme provides girls aged 8-16 with the skills and confidence to overcome some of the known barriers to their continued participation in competitive and sports leadership opportunities.The Government understands that school facilities provide pupils with some of their first experiences of accessing sport and physical activity, which can support them to lead a lifetime of playing sport and being physically active. The Department has made up to £57 million available until March 2025 to support up to 1,350 schools to open their sport facilities outside of core school hours.Schools can organise and deliver a diverse and challenging PE and school sport offer that best suits the needs of their pupils. Factors influencing that decision will include the impact of RAAC on spaces available for sports.

Schools: Transgender People

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many meetings she has had with which LGBT+ organisations on transgender guidance for schools in the last 12 months.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State has not met any lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organisations directly to discuss the guidance, but the Department is keen to consider the full range of views and will be undertaking a public consultation on the draft guidance prior to publication.During the consultation period, the Department plans to engage with a range of interested organisations, including organisations that support the LGBT community.

Schools: Buildings

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the prevalence of the use of asbestos in reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) products.

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that only Structural Engineers who are Licenced Asbestos Contractors will be used to carry out inspections of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) products.

Nick Gibb: Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) does not contain asbestos.Any intrusive works that are required to assess the presence of RAAC, are carried out by licensed asbestos contractors where asbestos containing materials are suspected, as Health and Safety Executive guidance dictates.Further information on RAAC in education settings is available at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/. Background on RAAC management information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information/background-on-raac-management-information.

Schools: Buildings

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the guidance entitled Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC): guidance for responsible bodies and education settings with confirmed RAAC, published by her Department on 31 August 2023, when her Department received new evidence about the safety risk posed by RAAC that led her Department to publish revised guidance.

Nick Gibb: Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. The Department discovered details of three new cases over the summer, where RAAC that would have been graded as non-critical has failed. The first of these was in a commercial setting. The second was in a school in a different educational jurisdiction.It was right to carefully consider the cases and scrutinise the technical details from these. The Department’s technical officials were able to investigate the situation in one case where the plank that had failed was fully intact as it was resting on a steel beam after it failed. They concluded that it would previously been rated non-critical.Ministers were carefully considering the first two cases, and advice from officials, when a third failure of a panel occurred, at a school in late August. The Department’s technical officials also visited this school to investigate the failure. In light of all three cases, it was right to make the difficult decision to change Departmental guidance for education settings and take a more cautious approach.Following careful analysis of these recent cases, a precautionary and proactive step has been taken to change the approach to RAAC in education settings ahead of the start of the academic year, as outlined in our guidance.

Department for Business and Trade

UK Trade with EU

Richard Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of having flat-rate customs charges on each item arriving from the EU on SMEs.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for Business and Trade, along with Cabinet Office, HMT and HMRC, continue to keep UK customs trends regarding SMEs importing from the EU under review. For example, as outlined in the Border Target Operating Model, published August 2023, HM Government is engaged in public consultation on its proposed methodology and rates regarding charging levels and continues to work closely with the Devolved Governments on charging policy.

Department of Health and Social Care

Hospitals: Concrete

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent guidance his Department has provided to hospitals affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Will Quince: The National Health Service conducts regular surveys of its estate to assess the state of the building fabric. These surveys cover a wide range of structural assessments. With particular reference to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the National Health Service has been surveying sites and undertaking RAAC mitigation work since 2019 and has had an active national remediation programme since 2021 to mitigate and monitor the risks posed by RAAC across the NHS estate.NHS England has also issued guidance for trusts nationally on how to establish the presence of RAAC in their estate. There is ongoing engagement with trusts on a national and regional level to ensure RAAC is identified across the NHS estate. Where structural surveys identify RAAC in their estate, trusts are inducted into the national remediation programme.

NHS: Buildings

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people at NHS trusts who have been affected by hazards caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: There have been no injuries caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) incidents in the National Health Service acute estate.The NHS has a comprehensive mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with RAAC, including significant additional funding worth £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures, such as propping, as well as to eradicate RAAC in non-whole hospital sites.NHS England has issued guidance for trusts nationally on how to establish the presence of RAAC in their estate. There is ongoing engagement with trusts on a national and regional level to ensure RAAC is identified across the NHS estate.

Home Office

Home Office: Government Art Collection

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Minister for immigration has artwork from the Government art collection in his office.

Robert Jenrick: Yes; this has been the case under successive Administrations of all political colours. To assist the hon. Member, I refer her to the answer of 17 March 2009, Official Report, Col. 1090W which lists the artwork in Home Office Ministerial Offices under the last Labour Government.